Two things with a tremendous impact on your ability to think creatively. In most cases, there is no better order of operation.

Clearing your mind – through meditation, exercise, sleep, or taking a break – allows you to break your usual thinking cycles that lead you to the same ideas and solutions. If you’re feeling creatively stuck or unmotivated, clearing your mind will help.

Changing perspective – by experiencing something new, physically changing perspective, introducing constraints, or conversing with a friend (or stranger) – helps to overcome your biases that lead you back into your routine thinking cycles. What good is clearing your mind if you’re simply going to fall back into your regular mode of thinking?

If I had to give advice on how to be more creative using only five words, these would be it.